Hello my magnificent family,
I thank you greatly for the time you take to write and let me know of your love. To be honest, it is something that a missionary looks forward to each week. I ask for your continued prayers on my behalf. I am having a little trouble with some trials right now and I could use it. I love you all.
This week we have decided to really do our best to learn about the Mandarin Branch that we are serving in. Through this we hope to recognize the needs of the Branch and be guided by the Spirit of the Lord in knowing how we can best use our efforts to strengthen the Branch. As we do this we hope to help the Branch members to grow in their faith and desire to serve. They do a wonderful job in striving to help the Chinese people in this area. I know that Heavenly Father will guide us. I was able to give a talk this week in another ward. We are going to all of the other wards to try and receive some help from them in expanding our ability to find chinese people in the area. As the other wards see and know that there are Chinese elders they will know what to do with their neighbors. My talk was specifically about Missionary Service and how to be more effective. Well this was topic that each missionary strives to learn every day and now I had to give a talk about it ;) I decided to look through Chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel and I learned greatly from it's pages. After reading through the chapter I wrote down a talk. I did my best to be in tune with the Spirit as I wrote. Before I stood up I pleaded with the Lord that He would forgive me of my sins the past week and enable me to speak His words. Because of the grace of our Heavenly Father I was able to feel the Spirit guiding my words. It has been a long time since I last gave a talk. But, I knew that I said what the Lord wanted me to say. I love being able to feel the Spirit work through me. I love being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. On thing that stood out to me from my talk was when I talked about how none of our efforts are wasted. I shared an analogy from a woodshop. In order to take a block of wood and shape it into something useful the wood passes through multiple tools. We are the tools and those that we meet each day are the pieces of wood. Whenever we talk to others and help them feel the love of our Heavenly Father through the Spirit it shapes them even more into what they need to be. Sometimes we are at the beginning of the spectrum, just starting to saw off chunks. Other times we are at the other end polishing and placing others in their proper order through helping them to receive their saving ordinances. No matter what we do if we act in the name of the Lord, or according to His will, we are helping to prepare others to accept the gospel. I know that through our efforts and faith we will find many who will desire to hear of the gospel and live within the bounds of covenants to help them be truly happy. I know that this gospel is the only things that fills our lives with true joy and peace and I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
P.S. I love your letters thank you for your dedication in writing to me. They are what keep me running through the week. :)
